Arabs Rank High on Forbes Billionaires List

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal once again topped the list of the world’s richest Arabs according to the Forbes annual survey. His net worth is estimated to be $20.4 billion. Coming in second place on the Arab scale is the Lebanese-Brazilian banking magnate Joseph Safra, with about $16 billion in wealth. The third place honor goes to another Saudi, Mohammad al-Amoudi with approximately $15.3 billion.

The list appeared in Forbes Middle East edition, which was released in April. The list features billionaires and multimillionaires from 13 Arab countries. Also included in the survey was the combined net worth of the 100 richest Arabs, equaling an astounding $166.07 billion in 2014. The survey also summarized the total wealth of the 45 richest Arabs. Together those high-net worth 45 are worth $147.7 billion.

Notwithstanding those stratospheric figures, they do not match the numbers of the world’s richest individuals. Worldwide there are 1,645 billionaires,42 of them newly added women. The total net worth of these list members comes to a mind-boggling $6.4 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion last year.

Bill Gates once again took the top position with a net worth of about $7.4 billion. The past four years Gates did not rank in the lead, and this year took the spot from last year’s number one richest man in the world, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helu, who this year place second with a nice $72 billion in wealth.